Sound reproducer attachment for headrests



Feb. 17, 1953 G; A. LA FITTE 2,629,023

SOUND REPRODUCER ATTACHMENT FOR HEADRESTS Filed D60. 9, 1949 2SHEETS-SHEET l 2Q INVENTOR. & Geo/ye A LaF/ffe A Trot/v15 V 1953 G. A.LA FlTTE SOUND REPRODUCER ATTACHMENT FOR HEADRESTS Filed Dec 2SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR. eorge ,4 laF/rfe a, flaw:

Arrae/vfr Patented Feb. 17, 1953 SOUND REPRODUCER ATTACHMENT FORHEADRESTS George A. La Fitte, Atlanta, Ga.

Application December 9, 1949, Serial No. 131,947

This invention relates to a musical headrest or combination headrest andsound receiver, and more particularly to a headrest such as isordinarily used on dental chairs and a sound receiver combined therewithso as to be positioned adjacent or in proximity to the mastoid boze of apatient sitting in the dental chair.

It is well known that music has a soothing influence upon the nerves andtends to lessen the sensation of pain for a patient undergoing dentaltreatment. Previously, dentists and others have resorted to a radioreceiver for broadcasting music and other programs for the pleasure oftheir patients and for the purpose of distracting the patients attentionfrom the actual operative work being performed. in this manner, thepatients mind is taken off of his ills and his attention is called tomore pleasant things, thereby relaxing the nerves and actually lesseningthe conscious sensation of pain for the patient.

I have found that a program which may be pleasing to one patient may notbe at all pleasing to another patient in an adjoining room or even tothe dentist himself; and, furthermore, that music filling the roomgenerally, together with other noises in the room, is not nearly assoothing to the patient as is the quiet sensation of audible soundstransmitted to the patient alone from a small earphone or electricalreceiver placed adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the mastoidbone of the patient.

It is a primary function of the headrest not merely to hold the head butto hold it in a restful position so as to relieve muscular and nervoustension, and it will therefore be seen that the sound receiver in mymusical headrest aids in the fulfillment of this primary purpose ofachieving more or less complete relaxation for the patient.

It is an object of my invention to provide a headrest with means forpositioning a sound receiver adjacent to or in the vicinity of themastoid bone of a patient whose head rests against the headrestassembly.

Another object of my invention is to provide a headrest with means fortransmitting audible sound to the mastoid bone of the patient in adental chair.

Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus which can bequickly and easily installed upon dental chairs and the like now in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a headrest having a soundreceiver or earphone embedded therein.

Another object of my invention is to provide a 4 Claims. (Cl. 179-146)headrest having an extension or attachment carrying a sound receiver.

Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus which is easilyinstalled, inexpensive to manufacture, durable in construction, andefficient in operation.

Other and further objects and advantages of my invention will beapparent from the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a headrest embodyin my invention.

:2 is a plan view showing a detail.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form.

Fig. i is a cross-sectional view taken along the line l-d in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 a plan View showing a modified form.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, an adjustable headrest assembly ofordinary construction is indicated generally at lb and is provided withthe customary pair of padded headrests H, H to which the extensions orattachments i2, 52' are secured, respectively. For this purpose, aconnecting plate i3 is fastened to the back of the headrest by screwsi4, and fastened to the back of the attachment by screws l5.Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 5, a band it may be looped around theheadrest and fastened to the attachment by screws It. The attachmentsmay be made of plastic, wood, metal or other suitable ma terial. Eachattachment is provided with a bore or recess it for the reception of areceiver or earphone of known construction, the outer end of which isshown at ll, ll. The receivers l1, l1 are connected, respectively, byflexible conductors l8, l8 to a switch box I9 and thence by flexibleconductor 29 to a radio receiver (not shown) of ordinary construction.The attachments l2, [2 are positioned on the lower front portion of theperiphery of the headrests l i, ll, respectively, so that when the headof the patient rests against the headrests H, H, the attachments l2, 12which form extensions of the headrests II, I I, respectively, andcontinuations of the padded surfaces thereof, are arranged to press thereceivers substantially against or in immediate proximity to the mastoidbones of the patient. Each of the attachments is provided with a smallopening 2| beneath which one of the electrical receivers or earphones ispositioned so that electrical impulses of audio frequency transmitted tothe earphones tom the radio receiver, or other sources of audiofrequency impulses, will be caused to pass from the earphone through theopening 2| so as to impinge substantially upon the mastoid bone of thepatient, and vibrations in the electrical receivers are transmittedthrough the attachment to the mastoid bone. By this construction, soundwaves of very low intensity will be audible to the patient against whosemastoid bones the attachments are pressed, while at the same time thesound waves emitted by the receivers may be of such low intensity as tobe substantially inaudible to other persons even though they may befairly close to the patient.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, a pair of padded headrests 22, 22have the padding 23 arranged around the receivers H, H which have beeninserted into the interior of the padded headrests 22, 22, respectively,as shown in Fig. 4. In this modification, the front covering of theheadrest, which is customarily made of leather, imitation leather,fabric or other suitable material, is provided with a small opening 24which corresponds to the opening 2| and through which sound waves fromthe receiver imbedded in the headrest emerge to impinge substantiallyupon the mastoid bone of the patient. In this modification, theearphones, or receivers, are held in place inside the padded headrest bybeing fastened to the back thereof, as by screws 25, and the receiversare pressed firmly against the patients head so that vibrations in theelectrical receivers are transmitted to the mastoid bone. Even patientswhose normal hearing has been impaired can sometimes be soothed by thismeans.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that I have provided adevice of great usefulness and that many modifications and changes maybe made in the embodiments shown and described without departing fromthe scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a headrest for supporting a human head comprising abody provided with an inner recess, an electrical sound reproducerpositioned within said recess, and means for attaching said body to thelower front portion of the outer periphery of said headrest to form anexternal abutment thereon so that said sound reproducer is automaticallypositioned in proximity to and pressed substantially against the v0mastoid bone in a human head supportednaturally upon said headrest.

2. An attachment for a headrest for supporting 4 a human head comprisinga body provided with an inner recess, an electrical sound reproducerpositioned within said recess, and means for attaching said body to thelower front portion of the outer periphery of said headrest to form anexternal abutment thereon so that said sound reproducer is automaticallypositioned in proximity to and pressed substantially against the mastoidbone in a human head supported naturally upon said headrest, said meansfor attaching comprising a band encircling said headrest and attached tosaid body.

3. An attachment for a headrest for supporting a human head comprising abody provided with an inner recess and an outer marginal portionconforming substantially to a portion of the periphery of said headrest,an electrical sound reproducer positioned within said recess, and meansfor attaching said body to the outer periphery of said headrest withsaid outer marginal portion abutting the lower front portion of saidheadrest so that said sound reproducer is automatically positioned inproximity to and pressed substantially against the mastoid bone in ahuman head supported naturally upon said headrest.

4. An attachment for a headrest for supporting a human head comprising abody provided with an inner recess and an outer marginal portionconforming substantially to a portion of the periphery of said headrest,an electrical sound reproducer positioned within said recess, and meansfor attaching said body to the lower front portion of the outerperiphery of said headrest to form an external abutment thereon so thatsaid sound reproducer is automatically positioned in proximity to andpressed substantially against the mastoid bone in a human head supportednaturally upon said headrest, said means for attaching comprising a bandencircling said headrest and attached to said body.

GEORGE A. LA FITTE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,148,347 Gray Feb. 21, 19392,459,325 Knowles Jan. 18, 1949 2,527,656 Reinsdorf Oct. 3, 1950

